Zelda: Skyward Sword and Mario 3D Land Each Surpass 500k Units Sold

3DS and Wii sales were up big last week, with the Wii selling 500,000 units on Black Friday.

The biggest Wii game launch of the year and the first big original game release on 3DS are each off to a strong start in the United States with both titles having already sold over 500,000 units.

According to Nintendo of America's Reggie Fils-Aime, who spoke with USA Today, Super Mario 3D Land has sold in excess of 500,000 units since it launched on November 13. That's a strong enough start to make it the fastest-selling portable Mario game ever. It's not as impressive a figure as it would be if it included console titles, where the majority of Mario's success has been experienced, but it's good news for Nintendo nonetheless.

That's particularly true for a game on a system that many consider to be struggling. That notion may not be accurate as we recently learned first-year sales of the 3DS are set to surpass those of the DS in its first year.

The release of the games, along with Black Friday, helped to drive sales of the two systems this month. Sales of 3DS were up 49 percent during the debut week of Mario 3D Land compared with the week prior, while last week its sales were up 325 percent compared with the week before Mario's release. Wii, meanwhile, had its biggest Black Friday ever with 500,000 units sold on Friday (including pre-Black Friday openings) alone.

We should get a better idea of how both systems, along with the competition, did during November when the NPD numbers are released next month.

Nice

as far as sales figures

skyward sword to modern warfare 3 is a false comparison, because mw3 is just so much more widely available for people to play.

a more accurate comparison would be to compare skyward sword to another one-console-exclusive, high-profile game that a lot of people seem to have forgotten about; gears of war 3. gow3 sold over 3 million copies in its first week, around six times as much as skyward sword, and considering they're both highly touted entries in a popular-yet-somewhat-niche series, THAT is a really impressive number.

still, 500k in the first week is nothing to frown about, and nintendo games are notorious long-burners, so i wouldn't be surprised at all to see skyward sword top gears of war 3 in total year sales by this time next year.

You make good points...

But seriously, if you own a 360 then a GoW title or MW3 is going to be the game you're gonna play. Nothing else comes close to selling as great as a shooter on said console. I would be pretty surprised if a 360 owner passed on those type of games. They are some of them out there. But they're most likely full-time Kinect users.

On the other hand, the Wii's user base is a lot more diverse. Not all of them are the type of consumer that will buy a Zelda game. Presently, looking at the Wii charts you see that Zumba and Just Dance 3 are selling greatly. And the ones that make those games big are not likely to dive into Zelda.

So with a fractured user base such as the Wii's (and considering its on its last leg in the race), the fact that the Wii sold half a million units in the US alone, is actually pretty impressive. So are the figures that Zelda managed to get.

And again, these dales figures are mostly coming from TWO DAYS. Two days and in the US alone.... not considering how much it sold or will sell in Japan and EU and AU.

Yeah but shooters...

GoW3 is actually a mainstream niche game due to the high demand it generates on the platforms it comes out on.

However, its understandable that one would find it odd that shooters of any sort would be considered "niche" on the big consoles. Especially when that very genre is actively supported by a large margin of their user base and demographic. And when most devs try to cater to it at almost every turn.

@Satori

But seriously, if you own a 360 then a GoW title or MW3 is going to be the game you're gonna play. Nothing else comes close to selling as great as a shooter on said console. I would be pretty surprised if a 360 owner passed on those type of games. They are some of them out there. But they're most likely full-time Kinect users.

REALLY SATORI!?! What are you, 12? No REAL man likes to play the same buillcrap game with the SAME Graphics, SAME Gameplay, SAME Weapons. Talk to me when you own BF3.

Niche?

Who cares if a game is "niche" or not? What matters is that they're good games and they're selling well, which is good not just for their respective companies, but also for the industry as a whole. I'm not a Modern Warfare fan, and I'm a Kinect player, either. But I don't wanna see a good game fail even if it's one I don't particularly support even though I think the Modern Warfare games are great and I don't blame anyone for liking them.

I'd say

this isn't that surprising, Nintendo is putting out some huge games (and they're garnering loads of attention because many were seeing what they'd put out next, even if it is an entry in tried and true IPs of theirs, many wanted to see how they'd turn out) since they turned out to be exactly what many expect them to be, they sold. The trolls also helped in a strange way, more attention was probably gained because of them...lol.

"Compared to other huge games..."

How about we compare Zelda's numbers with a recent EXCLUSIVE "huge game", ok? That's a more fair comparison...

*Skyward Sword (Wii exclusive) sold 535,000 copies in the U.S. in a week.

*Uncharted 3 (PS3 exclusive) sold 581,069 copies in the U.S. in a week.

Now, U3's 1st week sales numbers were a bit better than Zelda's. But they also dropped like a ton of bricks by its 2nd week on the market. U3 sold below the 150k mark in the next week. And please consider that Nintendo 1st party titles such as Skyward Sword tend to become "evergreen" titles that continue to sell well after the launch period.

With that in mind (and people buying Zelda as a present for this coming X-mas), you'll understand that Zelda has sold and will continue to sell in a very STELLAR way.

Gears of War 3 did sell incredibly well in its first week, though. But that's a no brainer on the 360 since who in their right mind would pass on it? A 360 owner owns said console for such games.

Yet on the Wii, its totally different. ts unlikely that a big chunk of its casual user base would support a game like Zelda. Instead they're making the new Zumba and Just Dance 3 hits on the charts. So instead you have a reduced user base made up of hardcore Nintendo fans and also just core gamers, buying Zelda. So yes, the numbers will not blow away GoW3's first week numbers. But I'll be surprised if in 10 weeks on the market, Skyward Sword doesn't make a big dent on GoW3's overall U.S. numbers.

I meant that

for an exclusive first party Wii game that isn't "casual" (I loathe the term but for the purpose of this conversation it's forgivable) this sold well. I can't wait to play my copy that's still in transit from the US...

LOLOLOLOL

ONE MORE YEAR FOR THE ROAD NINTENDO, LOL!! I remember (on this very site) battling Sony'Xbots at the beginning of this round of console wars. What was it? "Wii is dead after this Christmas season!!" That was every year since '06. That’s Zelda pushin' those Wiis, lol. That’s 500000 hardcore fans. Not even the grandma meme can hold up anymore, lol!!

The sad thing...

I'm pretty sure there are only about 2 or 3 of them...and they flood the boards with comments about Nintendo sucking then posting something about CoD or any other game unrelated to either Mario or Zelda for that matter. They're attracting attention to Nintendo though...